Comment - 21848 - Catherine Liu

I am writing to strongly urge the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) to pause the release of CalEnviroScreen 5.0 and immediately revise the score for Alviso. The current scoring for Alviso does not accurately reflect the community’s high climate vulnerability and ongoing environmental burdens. While shifts in population density may influence the data, they fail to capture the real-lived conditions of this low-income, historically marginalized community, which is situated at the lowest elevation in San José and faces compounding challenges. The residents of Alviso are actively working to build local resilience against environmental and climate threats like flood risk, poor air quality, and food insecurity. Through grassroots efforts, residents have organized disaster preparedness workshops and programs to address food affordability, highlighting the severe environmental inequities that persist. These community-led conversations, particularly around evacuation planning and the trauma of past floods, clearly demonstrate a continued urgent need for systemic support where it has been lacking for decades. For these reasons, the score in CalEnviroScreen 5.0 is misleading and will prevent Alviso from receiving the critical state funding, technical support, and resources necessary to sustain its resilience-building efforts. An accurate score is vital for environmental equity. Thank you for your consideration.